Overview
For one day each September, Laytown’s beach becomes a racecourse. The Laytown Races have run on the sand since 1868, and they’re the only beach horse-racing meeting held anywhere under the Rules of Racing – the tide sets the timetable, and the going is the strand itself. The rest of the year it’s a quiet seaside village in County Meath, at the mouth of the tidal River Nanny, with a beach that runs unbroken north into Mornington and south into Bettystown for just under 4.5 km. This is the quieter end of that stretch – Bettystown next door pulls the bigger crowds – and the M1 and the Dublin–Belfast railway line make it an easy day out from the city.
History and heritage
There’s been settlement here since at least the 6th century AD; excavations have turned up early Christian graves, a Bronze Age enclosure and an Iron Age burial mound known locally as ‘The Mote’. The coast’s most famous find is the Tara Brooch, reportedly picked up on Bettystown beach in 1850 by a local woman who said she found it in a box buried in the sand – though many believe it was actually found inland and the story was changed to keep it out of a landowner’s hands. It’s a Celtic masterpiece of about 710–750 AD, not Viking work, and now sits in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, alongside a blue Early Christian glass bead dug from a nearby rath in 1976.
The 19th century turned Laytown into a seaside resort, and mid-1800s buildings still line the front, including the station master’s house and long terraces. The Church of the Sacred Heart is the odd one out: a preserved 19th-century façade fronts a circular 1970s nave, with a large window looking straight out to the Irish Sea and a twenty-foot wooden cross on the hill behind. Film buffs have their own reason to look twice – the opening scene of Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game (1991) was shot here.
What to see and do
- Laytown Beach – a wide, flat strand, better for walking than for a busy swim day. At low tide the sand flats open right out, good for beach fishing (flounder, sea trout and bass all turn up). The Voyager, a sculpture cast from moulds of local sea creatures, stands out on the sand.
- Sonairte – the National Ecology Centre – half a mile from the station on the R150, an environmental charity with a walled organic garden, a nature trail along the River Nanny, a Bee Museum, a zero-waste refill station and an eco shop. It’s open Friday to Sunday, 9.30am to 5pm (4pm in winter); one source lists a 10am start, so ring ahead if you’re timing it tightly.
- The River Nanny – mullet, trout, eels, gobies and flounder all run here, and local lore has it that St Patrick banished the salmon. By an old schoolhouse above the river there’s a spring known as St Patrick’s Well, though the path to it is overgrown.
- Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club – a par-71 links course along the dunes, firm greens and plenty of wind, with views to the Maiden Tower at Mornington.
- Laytown–Bettystown railway station – opened on 25 May 1844 and renamed in 1913, a well-kept Victorian structure that’s still a working commuter stop on the Dublin–Belfast line.
Events
- Laytown Races – held on a single day in early September (2024’s meeting was on the 8th), on the beach since 1868 and unique as a Rules-of-Racing meeting run on sand. The card has thrown up curiosities before now – a penny-farthing race was added in 1875. Spectators once stood feet from the horses; barriers keep the crowd back today.
- Sonairte workshops – guided nature walks, beekeeping demonstrations and horticulture sessions run through spring and summer, usually on set dates and by advance booking.
Practical information
Getting there
- By train – Iarnród Éireann runs Dublin Connolly–Belfast intercity services via Laytown–Bettystown, with frequent commuter trains into Dublin.
- By bus – Bus Éireann route D1 serves Drogheda via Bettystown and Mornington. A separate express coach (not Bus Éireann) runs several times a day to Parnell Street in Dublin city centre.
- By car – roughly 55 minutes from Dublin Airport on the M1; exit at Junction 12 and follow the R132/R150.
Parking and facilities
- A small pay-and-display car park sits on Beach Road; it fills fast on summer weekends and race days. There’s no parking or driving on the sand itself. A handful of Age Friendly and Blue Badge spaces at Bettystown beach are strictly monitored.
- Public toilets are behind The Coast Tavern, a short walk from the sand.
- Lifeguards are on duty at Laytown Beach in the summer months only. Check tide times before swimming – low tide leaves a long walk out to the water.
Tips
- Grab a coffee to go from Ariosa, the bright orange café on the coast road, before heading onto the beach.
- On race day, take the train. Parking near the beach is gone by mid-morning.
Nearby attractions
Laytown sits on the edge of the Boyne Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape. Within a short drive:
- Brú na Bóinne – the passage tomb complex of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, about 25 minutes north.
- The Hill of Tara – the seat of the High Kings, with panoramic views and ancient earthworks.
- Drogheda – a medieval town on the Boyne, with its bridges, market house and independent restaurants.
- Mornington and Bettystown – the neighbouring villages, with the Maiden Tower and the Lady’s Finger, once beacons for sailors entering the Boyne.